Moment before gunman opened fire shooting innocent 15-year-old girl

Moment before gunman opened fire during gang chase shooting innocent 15-year-old girl in the neck as she waited for a bus is revealed – as he is jailed for life

• Disturbing video footage shows moment innocent teenager was shot at bus stop
• Rio Jones, 19, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for the shooting in 2022
• He chased rival through streets of Toxteth before letting off six shots, jury heard 

A disturbing video shows the moments before a violent gunman shot an innocent teenage bystander in pursuit of a rival. 

Rio Jones, 19, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 and a half years on Tuesday at Liverpool Crown Court. 

He was found guilty of attempted murder after shooting the target, Shakur Watson, in March 2022, and guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on the innocent 15-year-old bystander at a trial in October. 

The innocent teenager’s family said in a statement at the hearing that the schoolgirl had lost her independence following the shooting and that there wasn’t an aspect of her life that hadn’t been affected. 

Jones showed no emotion as he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the attempted murder and grievous bodily harm

The footage, released by Merseyside Police, shows the Jones chasing Watson on E-bikes in March last year

Jones can be seen chasing Watson on an E-bike as they come around the corner onto Upper Warwick Street in Toxteth, where the shooting took place, in footage released by Merseyside Police.

The two men race up Upper Warwick Road towards the bus stop where some bystanders are waiting. 

As Jones draws level with his target, he prepares to fire six shots at Watson. The video cuts off at the moment Jones is about to fire.

One of the bullets fractured a bone in Watson’s wrist.

Another bullet hit an innocent schoolgirl, who was standing at the bus stop, in the neck and caused significant injuries.  

Jones was found guilty of attempting to murder the target, Shakur Watson, and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent by a jury in October following a trial.

The footage shows the chase in full flow, with Jones cycling quickly to draw level with Watson before he pulls out the weapon

The bikes swerve across the road during the pursuit before Jones manages to draw level with Watson

He returned to Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday to be sentenced having also admitted possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. 

Jones – appearing via video link to HMP Manchester – showed no emotion as he was imprisoned for life with a minimum term of 16-and-a-half years.

Family members could be heard gasping in the public gallery as he was told he would receive a life imprisonment. 

One woman began sobbing uncontrollably and had to be led out of the courtroom propped up by two men.

The hearing heard from the family of the teenage victim, who said there wasn’t an aspect of her life that hadn’t been affected by the shooting. 

She is unable to go out alone and has had to come home from school after being frightened by ‘innocent events’.  

Her gran said in a statement read out on her behalf: ”It has been the hardest thing I have ever experienced to watch her go through this dark tragedy when she was simply standing at a bus stop in her school uniform in the middle of the day.

‘She has always worked hard at school to realise her ambitions. It means more than anything in the world to her, to make something of herself.

‘That day in March changed our lives forever. Those early months were torturous, the peace of our lives was shattered.

‘The hours turned to days and the days to weeks, followed by long months of watching her suffer,’ the family member said. 

‘She was on so many pain managing drugs that she spent much of the day asleep, unable to engage in conversation because she was unable to speak. The damage to her lungs seemed to take away the power of her breath to talk.

‘She was frustrated and isolated, became invisible almost, and we worried that we would never get her back. We would wake in the night to find her in the bathroom, crying in excruciating pain, running cold water on her arm to try and numb the pain that the medication would not take away.

‘They stopped her functionality and we didn’t recognise her. Ordinary tasks like washing and styling her hair, bathing herself, going to school, eating, everything that made her who she was, vanished – her pride, ambition and peace were stolen from her.

‘Our movie nights were replaced with medication rotas. We watched from the sideline, helpless bystanders as our beautiful girl suffered in silence.

‘Each night, men with guns come to shoot her in the back. She has had only two nights uninterrupted sleep since the shooting happened.

One bullet fired by Jones struck Watson, who was eventually identified by police, with the other hitting an innocent 15-year-old bystander

‘If she hears a bang, noise or a clap she experiences a flashback and collapses into a crumbling heap, shaking and crying uncontrollably. I’ve had to go to school several times to pick her up after being triggered by an innocent event, too distraught to remain there – her quiet dignity taken from her as she publicly reacts to the terrors of her memory.

‘She is afraid to go out alone, and we have to arrange chaperones for every outing she has. Her social life has ended along with her independence – I can honestly, truly say that there isn’t one aspect of her life that is untouched.’

Detective Superintendent Rachel Wilson said after the sentencing: ‘This was a truly shocking and reckless incident in which an innocent child was caught up in a gang dispute and it is only by sheer good fortune that this did not turn into a murder investigation.

‘My officers worked tirelessly on this investigation to bring the person responsible to justice. Thanks to their hard work and diligence we were able to move quickly to arrest and charge Jones within a matter of days of the incident happening.

‘Today he is behind bars, where he will spend a considerable amount of time, reflecting on the consequences of his brazen actions.

Superintendent Wilson added that the injured teenager continued to suffer as a result of the shooting.  

‘Sadly Jones’ victim continues to suffer, both physically and mentally, as a result of the injury she suffered that day. I hope that the sentence will bring some comfort to her and her family and help her in some way with her long process of recovery.

A jury previously heard that Jones, of Jermyn Street in Toxteth, was chasing Watson through the streets – both on electric bikes – shortly after 5pm on March 1 last year when he fired six shots at ‘at extremely close proximity’. 

Police officers at the scene in Upper Warwick Street in Toxteth, Liverpool after the shooting in March 2022

One bullet struck the other rider, who was eventually identified by police, with the other hitting the 15-year-old – who ‘happened to be waiting at a bus stop just behind the target’ with a friend, aged 14.

She was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after one of the bullets entered at the right-hand side of the back of her neck and exited through her chest.

The teenager suffered lung damage and shattered vertebrae in her spine, undergoing 10 days of treatment before being discharged.

Meanwhile, Watson continued riding for a short distance before knocking on the door of a nearby house. 

The occupant drove the 20-year-old to the Royal Liverpool Hospital after he was shot in the right arm, requiring surgery after the bullet fractured a bone in his wrist.

In the aftermath Jones disposed of the gun, his bike and the clothes he had been wearing during the shooting. None of these items have since been recovered.

The teen was arrested at his home on March 3, with a search of the property uncovering body armour in his bedroom. 

He claimed to have lost his phone during a visit to Sheffield the day after the shooting, replacing it with a new handset and number thereafter.

Jones said in his evidence that he had been stabbed, shot at and run over in a dispute between two groups of feuding former friends in the years leading up to the incident.

Forensic tape marks a bullet hole in a bus stop in Upper Warwick Street in Toxteth, Liverpool, after a teenage girl was seriously injured

This schism allegedly developed after an unnamed friend was murdered in 2017.

After this, he and his family had been on the end of a series of attacks for which he believed ‘someone in the other group of friends’ was responsible.

These included an arson attack at his home in January 2019, six days before his dad’s work van was set on fire.

On November 21, 2019, a firearm was discharged outside Jones’ address when he was not home. 

Ten 9mm casings were found in the road, with nine bullet holes left in the front window.

Jones was then stabbed on High Park Street on October 24, 2021, being knifed in the chest and leg as he and a female friend sat in a car. 

He suffered a ‘small puncture wound’ to his upper thigh and a ‘slash wound’ to the hand, but sustained no injuries to his torso as he was wearing body armour.

The teenage gunman said on the witness box that he had been stabbed twice prior to this. 

He also claimed to have been ‘chased with knives and guns’, while his mum’s car had ‘got smashed up’.

On another occasion, Jones was chased and hit by a car while walking his dog and suffered a broken foot. 

Rio Jones, 18, of Jermyn Street, Toxteth, was charged with two counts of attempted murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of a controlled drug

Shots were also fired when he and a group of his friends were being pursued through the streets.

The teenager stated that he had been similarly been tailed on the morning of the shooting in March 2022 and decided to retaliate by finding and pursuing a person from the other gang in order to warn his assailants off. 

Jones maintained that he had not intended to fire the gun and instead ‘panicked’ when he brandished the weapon.

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